


Conversations in the Rain

by fadebound (biqua)



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 10:29:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3484874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biqua/pseuds/fadebound
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ket Lavellan has never quite fit in with the rest of her clan, but when the pressure from being First is too much she's always been able to escape into the woods. She's heard every warning the Keeper gave her about shems, but how much of a danger could they really pose to her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conversations in the Rain

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning that I have no update plans on this fic, other than having a good idea of where I want it to eventually go.

The air felt damp: It was going to rain. But Ket wasn't ready to head back yet. Creators knew that she just needed some time alone, and lots of it. With the clan, she got none.  
  
Was she happy to be the Keeper's First? In all honestly, maybe not. It was a responsibility that had been pressed on her out of duty, not love. She was the only young mage the clan had, so the duty fell to her. She didn't particularly like magic, and she didn't want to lead the clan. It scared her to think of being responsible for everyone she knew, and sometimes that became overwhelming. No one else seemed to understand, even the Keeper believed her place was an honor. So Ket would leave, not for good, not for more than a few days, and not without informing the Keeper and her parents. She would take a small bag with food, maybe a few supplies, but she never went further than the edge of the woods. She could use magic to provide for most of her needs, and what she couldn't she would bring along with her.   
  
There was another reason, one she would never admit. She rationalized to herself, blaming her curiosity. That was all it was, after all. She only wanted to watch. It didn't have to be him, he just happened to be closest. Still, she would never admit to the clan that she came to watch a shem.  
  
Her plan today was to watch for maybe an hour, then set up her camp in the thick of the forest so she could make her way back tomorrow. However, the man was nowhere to be seen today. He worked the fields at the edge of town, and normally Ket could see him easily from the edge of the woods. Today, though, there was no one. Maybe he had also noticed the rain? Were shems able to tell?  
  
Against her better judgement, Ket walked slowly out of the woods. She sprinted to the fields, hoping to hide in the tall grass, but she tripped over something hard and fell. She pulled her face out of the dirt, curling up into a protective ball. When the pain in her foot subsided, she looked behind to find a large melon growing in the field. A simple, stupid thing. She laughed at her own carelessness, forgetting her surroundings.  
  
The grass rustled, and she stopped. She stopped everything--laughing, moving, she even tried to stop breathing. She didn't know what it would mean to be caught out here, but she knew it would be bad. She had grown up on the horror stories of what shems did to elves, and various members of the clan had the scars to prove them. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, each breath felt like a thunderclap.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
She opened her eyes, still lying on the ground, and looked into the face of the red-headed man she so often watched. His face was younger than she had guessed from a distance--The lines that marked it were not from age, but from loss. He did not look like much of a threat. Ket could surely take him if she needed to. He was not a mage.  
  
"Miss, are you alright? Do you need help?"  
  
She panicked.  
  
She flat-out panicked, springing to her feet and bursting into a full-speed run. His voice echoed in her ears, and she could almost hear him asking her to stop. She didn't stop until she was safely in the forest, and his shouts had subsided. Ket collapsed, breathing heavily, and realized that she was lost. Tears ran down her hot cheeks as the rain began to fall.


End file.
